Planting Seed Potatoes

Growing Spuds

There's nothing quite like homegrown baby spuds, or a cellar full of delicious tubers.  Root vegetables grown organically in your own garden are so nutrient rich.

'Seed' potatoes is kind of a misnomer - there are no seeds involved.  Small potatoes, about the size of an egg, or a larger potato cut into similar sized pieces is what is referred to as 'seed potatoes'.

The only seed potatoes you should use are those from certified virus free stock - don't try keeping your own for planting the following year.  Over time, diseases and viruses can build up, overwintering in the soil, crops left in the ground, or even spare potatoes in the compost bin.

To prepare your seed potatoes, they need light - this is the only time they should be in light.  They need it to start growing, and if they're cut pieces they also need to callous over and heal.

The process of getting them to sprout is called 'chitting' which just means to sprout. 

This gives you a good idea of how vigorous they are, and which way up they should be planted. 

Use care when handling them at this stage as those little two inch sprouts are not very securely attached.

Plant in prepared rows, a few inches deep.  Cover them a little, and as they grow, cover them up to the first leaves.

Potatoes are always planted in rows or in a bin.  In rows in the garden, the soil can be hilled up around them to protect the growing tubers.  From this stage on, they should never be exposed to light.

Through the summer, continue to hill them up.  When the flowers emerge, you know that the time has come to stop watering them. 

They need a few more weeks to ripen and mature, then the vines will start to wither. 

Dig a few up to check the size, or grub around the edges with your fingers.

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